Still Friends
by Barbacar
Summary: The night after the Monster Arm incident, Star and Marco have a talk and share their first hug.


Marco sat on his bed, rubbing his arm. It was still broken, but it seemed to be slowly healing. At the very least, it wasn't a bowel-hungry tentacle anymore. That was a weird thought to have, but after Star had been living with him the past few weeks, it seemed almost normal. Come to think of it, he hadn't seen Star in a while. Maybe she was finally getting some sleep, after she stayed up for two nights in a row finding out how to change his arm back from the aforementioned bowel-hungry tentacle.

He was just about to go to bed when he heard footsteps from outside his room. A few seconds later, the door swung open and Star hurried into the room with a cry of "Marco!"

She was wearing her nightgown, but it was pretty clear that she hadn't slept more than a couple minutes in the past three days. Her skin was pale, her eyes were dry and puffy, and her long blonde hair was a mess. She sat down next to Marco, and limply grabbed his broken arm, looking it up and down while frantically saying "Your arm's fine, right? It's not a tentacle anymore? You're okay, right? You're gonna be okay?"

"Uh, yeah?" said Marco, gently pulling his arm away. "I mean, you saw it turn back to normal. Is everything okay?"

Star looked at Marco, and her tired eyes started to well up. Suddenly, she burst into tears, sobbing "I'm so, _so_ sorry!"

"Star!" called Marco, placing a hand on Star's shoulder. "Whatever it is, it's gonna be okay. I mean, I think. Just please, tell me what's wrong."

That seemed to calm her down a bit. Star took a deep breath, though she was still swaying back and forth from days of sleep deprivation. She shakily said "So, uh... so I read a little bit about that whole monster arm spell thing. I found out that if I didn't fix it in time, it was gonna... it was gonna take over your whole body, and then you'd... you would've..."

Star was silent for a moment. "And then I would've what?" asked Marco out of curiosity, though part of him could tell that the answer would be something he wouldn't want to hear.

"You would've died!" cried Star, breathing heavily and pulling on her hair.

"Wait, really?" said Marco, his eyes widening. Sure, it was in the past now, but the thought of what very nearly happened was still quite a shock.

" _Yes_!" yelled Star. "You could've died, and it would've been all my fault, all 'cause I'm so stupid that I can't even fix your arm without almost killing you!"

Star pulled her hair over her face and curled into a ball on Marco's bed. "I'm not a good friend, Marco." she said in a small voice. "I'm too dangerous to be around you or anybody else."

She sighed sadly before saying "I think... I think I'm gonna call Mom and Dad tomorrow, and see if they can send me somewhere I can't hurt anybody. Maybe St. Olga's is where I belong after all."

"Star." Said Marco. "You _are_ a good friend."

"Good friends don't kill their best friends, Marco." said Star, muffled by the hair she was covering her face with.

Marco put a hand on the big ball of blonde hair curled up on his bed. "But you didn't." he said. "You know why?"

Star sat up to look at him, using an arm to prop herself up and struggling to keep her eyes open. She was normally so energetic, so seeing the poor girl look like she was about to collapse from exhaustion nearly broke Marco's heart.

Marco gave her a reassuring smile as he said "Right after you accidentally turned my arm into a tentacle, you did everything you could to change it back. Heck, you stayed up for _three whole days_ just finding a spell that would work."

He sighed before continuing "I mean, I was the one who wouldn't let you change it back at first. If anything, this whole thing isn't your fault more than it is mine."

Star took a deep breath before saying "Well, that part miiiiight not've been your fault."

"Why not?" asked Marco, raising an eyebrow.

Star looked down, her eyelids drooping. "So, uh, before the monster arm curse thing starts to... take over people's bodies, it starts putting evil thoughts in their brains. So, you probably weren't thinking straight back then."

"Huh." was all Marco could say at first. "Well, in case what I did wasn't 'cause of that, I'd just like you to know that I'm sorry for it."

"And I'm sorry, again, for almost killing you." frowned Star.

"Star, you don't need to apologize twice." said Marco. "If you ask me, you don't even need to apologize once. I was the one who asked you to fix my arm in the first place."

"But it's not like you could've known I was gonna turn your arm into a killer tentacle monster." said Star, her head in her hands.

"And it's not like you could've known that spell would do that either." said Marco, giving Star a warm smile.

"Huh, I guess so." said Star, mouth slowly starting to form into a smile. "You know, if it wasn't my fault, then how about we just go with that it was nobody's fault?"

"Sounds good to me." nodded Marco. "And Star, you don't need to worry about being a danger to me. I mean, yeah, there are a lot of times I wish you'd be more careful. But over these past few weeks, I've started enjoying some of these crazy adventures you've been taking me on. I was kinda put off by them at first, but they've really grown on me, just like you have."

Star gave a wide, albeit drowsy, smile as she said "So, we're still friends?"

"Still friends." grinned Marco.

With that, Star happily gave Marco a hug, as firmly as she could despite her tiredness. Marco was surprised at first, but soon returned the hug with a smile. It seemed a little weird and his arm still hurt, but he could tell that she needed it, and to be honest, he kinda needed it too.

After about a minute, Marco felt Star's hug loosen somewhat. He opened his eyes and saw that she had fallen asleep in his arms.

"Uh, Star?" he said, but she didn't stir. Figuring that there probably wasn't a lot he could do to wake her up, Marco decided to let her keep sleeping. It was for the best, anyway. Marco still didn't know a lot about Mewman biology, but staying up for three days straight couldn't be healthy, especially for somebody Star's age.

While Star wasn't especially heavy, Marco knew he wouldn't be able to carry her back to her bed with his arm still broken. So, he went with the next best option, and gently setting down on his own bed. Tucking her in, he yawned and realized that what he was planning to do felt a little weird. He considered another option, perhaps spending the night in Star's bed now that it was empty, but that felt even weirder.

So, he slowly got into bed next to the sleeping Star, quietly saying "Goodnight, Star." shortly before drifting off to sleep with a smile.

The past few days had been pretty rough for both of them, but things were looking up.


End file.
